Illinois government's $100K club membership stretches statewide

In every county of Illinois, from the heavily populated Cook in the north to the rural Alexander in the state's southern most tip, you can find a state employee who earned more than $100,000 last year.

In every county of Illinois, from the heavily populated Cook in the north to the rural Alexander in the state's southern most tip, you can find a state employee who earned more than $100,000 last year.

State government's "$100,000 club" has 6,215 members, about 8.2 percent of the state's workforce.

Those employees earned about 17 percent, or about $780 million, of the $4.5 billion payroll, according to an analysis of 2012 payroll information provided by the state comptroller's office.

DuPage County has the largest percentage of its state employee population earning more than $100,000. Nearly 13 percent of the state workers living in DuPage are members of the club. Will and McHenry are two other collar counties surrounding Chicago where at least 10 percent of its resident state workers made more than $100,000.